Book 1. Tver Region Picture Gallery (Lost items - 407 )

In August, 9th, 1866 in Tver in the building of a man's grammar school the museum was opened, created as then newspapers wrote, «with the help of the Tver public» and became one of the first public museums in a province.

In the beginning of the XX-th century in the museum collection subjects of arts and crafts and church art prevailed.

Since 1917 in the museum subjects from closed monasteries and churches and the nationalised manors which in the Tver province there were more than three and a half thousand began to arrive. By this time in them enormous art values were concentrated.

In 1936 the art department of the museum received the independence and became an art gallery.

The gallery began to form «department of the Soviet art». Pictures, drawings and pictures of the Moscow and Leningrad artists - A.A. Dejneka, E.E. Lancer, B.V. Iogansona's products, Kukryniksa, L.A. Bruni, F.S. Bogorodsky, I.V. Stalin and K.E. Voroshilov's portraits by A.M. Gerasimov were got.

Soon after the beginning of the Great Patriotic War the authorities of Kalinin decided to unite temporarily the gallery and the museum, it was not possible to evacuate them.

On October, 14th, 1941 the city was grasped by German armies.

In days of the occupation the exposition of the gallery and the museum was in the former church of Rise in the city centre. Also the central fund-storehouse of art collections were there.

On December, 16th, 1941 the city was released by armies of Red army.

Check of collections and revealing of the damage of art collections, began right after city clearings.

Among the exhibits of gallery stolen during the occupation by Germans of Kalinin, the most valuable are: Catherine II Big smart portrait of work of the well-known Danish artist Eriksena, two fine portraits of Rotari – Elizabeths Petrovny and the count Skavronsky, drawings T-de of Tomona, a picture and N. Chernetsova's water colour, a portrait of the grand duke Michael Pavlovich by Fedotov, a water colour by Venetsianov «the Peasant combing flax» and a picture of its pupil Soroki «the Kind of village Spassky», Levitan, Shishkin's small pictures, Rylov and "Thais" by V. Orlovsky, K. Savitsky's sketch «On war», Polenov's etude «the Head of the Christ», written from Levitan, "Hoarfrost" by Kustodieva, one of the best works of the artist.

For an art gallery, poor works of genre painters, loss of pictures of Bogdanov, Afanasev, Bogdanov-Belsky, Kharlamov, Stepanov is very sensitive.

Good miniatures of Dezarno, Vegner, Shamisso, the chest of 1630 with painting and a cross of Dionisy, sculptural works by Lancer, bas-reliefs from an ivory and Utkin and Tolstoy's medals, a figurine of factory of Gardner, subjects of Saxon – Berlin porcelain, a fan and enamel boxes of the XVIIIth century are lost.

In the list of the art values lost in days of the Great Patriotic War, 198 exhibits: painting – 72, sculpture – 27, arts and crafts – 63, drawing – 33.

Losses of library fund make 214 units.